Ghislaine Maxwell’s Guilty Verdict Exposes Defense’s Victim-Blaming Disgrace

“Your honor, the government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt and so there is no need for me to testify.” These were the only words spoken by Ghislaine Maxwell during her two-week trial on sex trafficking and other felony charges. Seemingly content with the state of the evidence, the British socialite and her defense team rested their case on the assumption that the victims would not be believed. In fact, the entire defense strategy hinged on blaming, shaming and dismantling the testimony of the four women, who say they met Maxwell and the financier Jeffrey Epstein as children and who told jurors that Maxwell enabled and participated in their sexual abuse. (Maxwell denied all charges, pleading not guilty.) Jurors disagreed, finding Maxwell guilty on five of the six charges against her.